Educators push to expand advanced classes in St. Louis area

Published
6:12 pm CDT, Saturday, June 11, 2016

ST. LOUIS (AP) — A former Missouri school superintendent who helped sharply increase the number of minority students in Advanced Placement classes is turning his attention to three St. Louis-area school districts.

Chris Belcher said he was alarmed several years ago when he was superintendent in Columbia and saw that very few African-American and low-income students were enrolled in AP classes.

He worked with principals to change procedures for the 2012-2013 school year and removed prerequisites such as high grade-point averages, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported.

That year, 239 additional low-income and minority students in two high schools enrolled, virtually erasing the racial and income disparities in the courses.

The passing rates on exams remained unchanged and 90 percent of the juniors who might not have otherwise taken the classes took another the following year, Belcher said.

He now works as a superintendent-in-residence for Equal Opportunity Schools, a nonprofit organization based in Seattle that worked with Belcher to address the disparities in Columbia.

“We want to change the whole conversation about education reform,” Belcher said. “It’s not about fixing what’s broken. It’s about leveraging what we’re doing well already and getting more kids into the rigorous programs.”

Equal access to AP courses is a concern across the U.S. Data released by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Civil Rights show a share disparity in the racial makeup of AP course enrollment nationwide.

The Missouri Department of Elementary and Secondary Education considers expanding access to rigorous high school curriculum on the same level as improving teacher quality in high-poverty schools.

The state also is working to encourage the expansion of AP course offerings in rural high schools, where they are in short supply.

College professors develop curriculum for AP classes. Studies show that students who take those classes are far more likely to complete college with a degree.

Ferguson-Florissant Superintendent Joe Davis said he hopes the partnership with EOS would help identify students who could be successful in more challenging classes.

“It’s really about preparing children for college,” Davis said. “Many of our students are living in poverty. That should not be a predictor of whether our kids are ready for college.”